Truth Be Told
by Havock612
Summary: OC Takes place in the Star Wars universe 9 ABY. One of the splintered imperial factions, the Vast Empire, survives and continues to Thrive. This is a story about one of their troopers and her journey home after enlisting in the army.


_Author's Note: (Original Character) Takes place in the Star Wars universe 9 ABY. One of the splintered imperial factions, the Vast Empire, survives and continues to Thrive. This is a story about one of their troopers and her journey home after enlisting in the army. More stories about Havock and other Vast Empire troopers can be found at .com/main/_

Corellia could be such a dirty city. Havock stepped off the transport from Tadath. She had gotten her first leave since joining the Empire. There were so many people in the spaceport. She had her reservations about coming 'home' to Corellia. She thought about the planet as she made her way though the overly crowded streets.

Jed, the only father Havock had known, practically begged her to visit. But this place, only seemed to remind Hav that she really had no idea where she really came from.

It was strange to be dressed in her civilian clothes, it had been so long since she was out of trooper uniform. She pulled her coat closer, wrapping it around her as she passed some of the merchants near the spaceport.

She slowed as she saw the orphanage, her first 'home'. She left before she could really ask what circumstances brought her there in the first place. She knew the nurses named her, so whoever left her there didn't even bother to do that before they dumped her on someone else's doorstep. Ayme, thats what they named her. One of the older nurses', Nica, her mother died just before Havock's arrival. They decided to name the helpless baby on their doorstep after the dead woman, so on paper she was Ayme.

She adjusted her sack she had draped over her back. Her teeth started to grind together, she still hadn't looked away from the building that served as her first home. It looked so old and in need of repair. Small too, it just seemed so small now.

Shaking her head Havock turned to look down the street. She walked the next two blocks with very little thought. She had been down this road so many times. She arrived in front of a large but inconspicous building that belonged to her foster father, Jed Katash.

Hav walked into the building. It was old and smelled of decaying flimsy. Descending the stairs to her second 'home' she opened the door. There was an entertainment room directly to her right as she made her way through the hallway. Five or six people were in there engaged in some sort of card game, and making quite a noise so nobody even noticed Havock was there. Hav just kept walking, passing the common rooms. She made her way down to the level with their bedrooms, and found hers just has she left it.

Pausing for a second as she entered the threshold, Havock looked around the room that had been hers since she was eight years old. She made her way over to the bed and set her pack down. Only then did she notice how numb her shoulder had become from carrying the bulky bag for so long. Her hand rubbed the sore shoulder a few times before she got to the work of unpacking.

She had gotten most of the items in her bag away, her wrist was sweating so she undid the latch. Taking off the nerf skin bracelet, she rubbed her wrist. Havock looked at the pale wrist as turned and sat on her bed. The tattoo on her wrist had been there since before Jed found her, since the orphanage and probably before that. Lost in thought, staring at the tattoo, she didn't even notice the man who was standing in her doorway.

"Thought you'd never let that thing see the light of day."

Havock didn't look up, "Thought you'd stopped smoking those cancer sticks." She grinned and looked up at Jed.

He chuckled, held the lit cigarette up at her as if to say 'see this'. Then he dropped it and smashed it beneath his foot. She laughed, although subconsciously she was still holding her wrist. They met in the middle of the room and embraced.

"Took you long enough." Jed said as they released. Jed was a big man, with jet black hair and a rugged beard. He glanced at the naked wrist with the tattoo, but knew better than to bring it up.

"I've been busy you know." She backed up and returned to her seat on the bed. "You've lost weight."

Jed smirked, "Yeah. I stopped eating all the foods I like. I'm miserable, but I look really good." He put his hands in his pockets. "So, heard you got promoted."

Havock nodded. "Yep, I'm a Lance Corporal now. Happened after our last mission, to a planet called Kalee. Things got kinda messy but we pulled out of it okay."

"Messy?" He had his eyebrow raised as he sat next to her.

"A few of us got captured by the locals. Things did not look good, and I…just freaked out for a while. I've never felt so hopeless. But the way I figure it. I'm the new girl, and I'm the one that panicked on the last mission. I feel like everyone is questioning whether or not I can cut it. And the truth is…I don't know. I'm terrified. But I'm more terrified of not trying."

Only then did Havock notice the datapad in his hand. She recognized the insignia on the back and knew that he had received orders from the mysterious invisible bosses that payed them their paycheck. She would tease him about the supervisors with no faces often but decided he had probably heard those jokes enough. "What's that all about?" Havock pointed to the datapad in his hand.

"This? You know what this is Havock, its a job. Now don't worry I wouldn't ask you to come..."

"Shut up." She reached over and grabbed the datapad. Looking over the data she raised an eyebrow and looked back at Jed. "You weren't going to ask me? Lucy would get shot for sure if you sent her out on this."

He laughed and shook his head, "Good thing your here then, I guess."

"When is the briefing?"

"Right after dinner, may I offer the lady some food." He stood and with way too much chivalry offered Hav his hand.

She just shook her head and batted it away, getting up on her own. "My haven't we gone soft?"

"See what happens when your gone."

- - - - -

Jed and Hav had a quiet dinner, a few of the gang said their hello's. They caught up on the pointless chatter that they typically talked about, maybe thats what families were supposed to do at dinner.

As they finished up, they met the rest of the group in the conference room. Hav saw one of her old friends, Liam Bishop the groups slicer. "Hey Bishop!" Havock waved and headed over to the young man. Bishop was the same age as Havock, they grew up together. Bishop had always been naturally drawn to computers and now was one of the best slicers around.

"Well, well if it isn't General Havock." He stopped and saluted.

Havock just shook her head slowly and looked at him like an idiot. "Cut it out, I'm nowhere near a General. Come here." They hugged.

Jed cleared his throat. "Well now that were all here." He was eying the two of them with that look, the look Havock called the over-protective I'm going to talk to you about this later, look.

Setting her jaw and taking a deep breath, Havock glanced back at Bishop. "I'll see you after the meeting, okay?"

Bishop was still looking at Jed, "Yeah, you bet."

They all took their seats around the table.

"Our instructions this time are fairly vague. Hopefully management will get us some more information because I can't imagine this being all of it." He pushed some buttons and a holoimage pulled up from the center of the table. It was a holo of a tall elaborate building; Havock had seen it before it belonged to the Corellia National Bank.

"This is the headquarters for the Corellia National Bank. We are going to steal some information off of their database. Bishop and I have been working out some kinks to achieve this. So here's the plan tomorrow morning Bishop and I go in the bank lobby and open an account. Havock, you and Lucy are our distraction. The girls will make a scene drawing the manager away so that Bishop can access the computer, get our info, and we can get out. Its simple so I don't want any mistakes."

Havock just loved the fact she would be working with Lucy. At least it won't be hard, let her make a floozy of herself and then just make sure she knows when to stop. A few more team members were assigned to watch tower duty – that's our eyes and comms to make sure there are no police around.

Lucy was still sitting at the table, staring at herself in the mirror. The girl had hair so blond Hav swore it had to glow in the dark. She spent most of her credits on some new beauty product. Havock just could not even understand. Shaking her head Havock headed out to get her gear organized for tomorrows fun.

The lobby of the bank was huge. The floors were blue but so shiny and reflective Hav could see herself as clearly as if she was looking in a mirror. Lucy paused to check her make-up, and then she turned to Havock. "See the guy standing over there. His wife looks the jealous type right?"

Rolling her eyes and discreetly glancing in the direction Lucy indicated. She saw a man in a business suit standing with obvious discomfort next to a woman. "Okay, fine. I'm going to get in line, I'll cover you."

Lucy looked at Hav. "So tell me Havock, and be honest, how's my hair?" She fluffed the curly tendrils as she spoke.

Havock looked at the girl with the blinding blond hair, frankly to Havock she looked absolutely ridiculous. "Yeah, its fine."

"Thanks baby." She blew Hav a quick kiss as she walked off to ruin that poor man's day. i God I miss Jae. At the very least she would find a way to keep me from killing Lucy. /i Hav thought as she shook her head and made her way to the queue.

She could see Jed and Bishop already over with the manager in his office. Havock knew that Jed could convince people of anything. If he wasn't working for Black Nebula he would probably be a used speeder salesman. She caught Bishop's eye, and he winked. Hav nodded in response and got behind the last person in line. If Lucy's scene didn't do the trick Hav had to come up with something. She watched the scenario unfold.

Lucy walked by the man, if you can call that much hip bumping walking. She dropped something from her bag and bent over to pick it up. Of course when Lucy bends over, she really does it. Her butt was directly in the mans line of sight and she was sure to push her chest out as she snapped back up. i Ack how do they always fall for this crap. /i Just like all the others, the man had his jaw open. Only by having years of social training, was restraining the urge to stick his tongue out and pant like a vonskyr.

i Here comes the fun part. /i Havock took a chance to sneak a look back at the managers office. i These guys always have glass offices, heh, so predictable. /i

By the time her head came back around to Lucy, things were getting interesting. The wife was whispering angrily at the man, getting closer and closer. She started throwing in a few pushes on his chest as Lucy sauntered over to 'help' things along. The wife jumped like a cougar at Lucy and was barely restrained by the man. Who, humorously, was trying to make excuses for his wifes behavior while holding the raging woman back.

That was enough to get security pulled. Havock looked back at the office. The manager was standing but had not left the office yet. And he never did. Seeing his crack security detail deal with the dispute he apologized to his potential meal tickets and sat back down. i Fracking Hell! /i

Havock was almost to the front window now. They called her number and she approached the teller. Now she was going to have to ruin their day.

"How may I help you, Ma'am." The teller was far to cheery they must be being monitored.

"I'd like to make a deposit in my account. Here is the number." Havock rattled off some make-believe account knowing the woman wouldn't find anything. Knowing that when she didn't all hell was going to break loose.

After a few minutes of frowns and clicks on the keyboard the teller finally looked up at Havock. "I'm sorry, but we have no account by that number. If you could give me your name and your...."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? NO NO THERE SHOULD BE...WAIT...WHERE IS YOUR MANAGER, HUH. YOU CAN'T CHEAT ME." Havock just kept it going, punching the heavily plated glass between her and the teller for good measure every now an then.

That must have done the trick, because the manager came running. "Ma'am excuse me I'm the manager. Perhaps we can go talk somewhere..."

"NO, no you can explain to me why this number is not working." She slammed the flimsy down on the counter. "You tell me why MY account doesn't EXIST, huh?" She banged the teller window again. "I bring my credits to this bank, and you LOSE my account." Havock looked at the rest of the queue, "you guys sure your moneys actually here? Better check!"

The people in line started to pull out comlinks and datapads, mumbling to each other. The manager started to sweat.

"Miss I promise I can help you if the account is current I can find it. It's just a misunderstanding." He said both to Havock and loud enough for the majority of people in line to hear.

Behind his shoulder Havock saw Jed and Bishop give her a signal and head for the exit. She dangled the manager along for another thirty seconds before making her exit.

"Okay enough. I can't handle this. I'm out of here." Havock grabbed the flimsy and headed for the exit. The manager made feeble attempts to convince her not to leave angry and pleaded for her not to take her business elsewhere. She could still hear him as the doors shut.

-- - - --- ---

Havock could hear Lucy's cackling laughter before she even reached the meeting room. _Ugggh, maybe I should go back and get some caf first. _

It was the morning after their operation at the bank. Havock was eager to hear about the intel they had managed to gather from the managers computer. Bishop didn't even know last night when they ate dinner together and he was so excited Hav was sure he didn't sleep.

She entered the room, the majority of the group was already seated. She nodded at Jed and took a seat at the far end of the table. She literally almost jumped out of her seat when Lucy grabbed her arm with both of her hands. "Oh Havvy, that was sooo much fun, wasn't it, I mean that was great what you did." Havock just inched farther and farther away from the overly excited girl. _I am so switching her to de-caf. _

With a fake smile on her face Havock took Lucy's hands off her arm one at a time. "Yeah it was great, thanks Luce."

When Hav glanced up at Jed he was visibly having to hold back bursting out in laughter. "Okay everybody, lets get to work."

Jed pushed some buttons and the holoprojector came to life. The data we collected from the bank has been analyzed. Looks like the computer was just the beginning. There is a shipping container at the docks, that supposedly contains a briefcase with information the company wants. We don't get to know whats in the briefcase, just that it looks like this and where to drop it off."

Jed continued to go over a few specifics, give out jobs. After the meeting he called for Havock to stay behind and talk to him.

"I thought it might be fun for you and Lucy to spend some quality time stuck together in say one of the shipping containers."

"What decided you want her dead?"

He laughed, "yeah, just kidding. I wanted to talk to you. I want you to be lead on this one."

Havock raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Heh, yeah. You've been doing a good job were your at now. So maybe your ready for this. And it doesn't seem like you could get into too much trouble. So you want it?"

Havock forgot to breath, she was so excited. "Yes, thank you Jed." She hugged him. He had never allowed her to even go on these types of missions, much less be the one to actually retrieve the object.

Havock walked into Jed's lounge area. The room was full of books…smelly books. Havock had no idea why Jed would keep these bound pieces of flimsy when a perfectly good data pad could hold them all. He was there, with Bishop leaned over a computer completely engrossed in something.

Havock walked around the table and started to stare at the books on the shelves.

"Oh can I recommend one?" Jed asked. Havock turned, his posture had not changed but his head was lifted and looking at her.

"Heh, only if it comes in the compact form." She held up her datapad to illustrate what she defined as 'the compact form'.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. He turned back to the screen as Bishop continued to clack away at the keys. Havock looked up as a new person walked into the lounge. It was a young man, medium build; he couldn't have been older than fifteen. He bounced up to Jed then frowned as he saw Havock, "Hi Jed, who are you?"

Havock raised an eyebrow at him, Jed looked somewhat agitated as he pulled himself away from the computer screen. "Ah Toby." He glanced over at Havock standing with her arms crossed and eyebrows rose glaring at the poor young man. "This is my daughter, Havock." He nodded then went back to the computer. Bishop still had not flinched, or moved his eyes from the screen.

"Oh well hi, hey you know Jed had me looking up some information to organize the personnel files. I saw your file and I wanted to tell you that I love your nickname, Ayme."

Havock's eyebrows went from being raised in slight amusement to instantaneously being locked in a frown, narrow and angry. Both Jed and Bishop stopped what they were doing and slowly raised their heads to Havock. The lack of Bishops clickity-clack on the keyboard was deafening.

Havock just looked at Toby for a few very silent minutes, before licking her lips and smiling. "Toby, right?"

The poor confused young man nodded quickly at Havock.

"Okay, your new here. So, here's the deal. You will never, ever call me that again. I'm Havock, Hav, maybe Havvy. But if you ever call me that other name again, I will hurt you. Understand, Toby?"

Toby had gone a nice shade of white that went very nicely with the décor of the room. He visibly swallowed before answering the blue eyed girl. "Yeah, s-ssorry, Havock." He sheepishly turned and walked back towards the exit.

Jed just shook his head at Havock, she turned to look at the pair of them her arms still crossed. She smirked and shrugged her shoulders, "what?"

Bishop looked up at Jed, "Geez boss, I don't know seems to me being a trooper has made ol' Havvy kinda soft on the noobs."

Jed turned sharply to look at Bishop with a frown, before realizing it was a joke. Then all three of them erupted in laughter.

"Okay, okay Hav." Jed spoke breathlessly through laughter, emphasizing her name. "Are you just about ready for the mission?"

"Yes. I've got my gear together. But I wanted to check the armory. See if you got any new toys since I've been gone." She smirked and her blue eyes twinkled just a little.

"Well get going, we need to get out of here at 2300. Meet us at the garage."

"Yes, sir." She smiled as she saluted and headed out.

Havock guided the transport with the Black Sun Gang towards the port. The majority of the people were in the back compartment leaving her and Bishop to ride in the front. Under her trucker's uniform, she was wearing a tight black jumpsuit. She would be using that outfit to avoid any line of sight security measures the port may have had.

"Hav?" Frowning Havock glanced over at Bishop from the drivers seat.

Then, keeping her eyes on the road, flashed a half-smile. "Yeah Bishop, whats up?"

Bishop had created a program to loop the ports security holo's while Hav was looking for the briefcase hidden in one of the containers. He was really good at his job. Hav could see him running his hand through his blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. _He's nervous, must be about the op. _

"Bishop, everything is going to go fine. We're ready."

"Heh, I'm not worried about the op." He swallowed. "I'm worried about you." He turned to look at Havock. "I still love you, you know."

"WHAT!" Hav jerked her head so sharply her arms turned the controls causing the vehicle to swerve on the road. Getting the vehicle back on track, she could hear and feel angry fists banging on the wall behind her head. "Damn."

Making sure she was focused, she took a deep breath. "Bishop, heh, why…no what are you talking about?"

"Are you sure you won't kills us?" Bishops hands were digging into the arm rests.

"No just you, if you don't tell me what that was all about."

Bishop relaxed just a little. "Hav, I guess…I know we were real young when you and I were…well you know."

Havock had her eyebrows raised as if to say _go on. _

"I just realized…seeing you again…that I keep comparing other girls to you. And you're here so I have to tell you, or I just know I'm gonna regret it."

Hav nodded taking in what Bishop had just told her. He was a good friend, and she needed to choose her words carefully. They had dated when they were only fourteen years old, that seemed like a life-time ago. When Jed found out he almost killed him.

"Bishop."

"There's someone else, in the Army. Isn't there." He looked so sad when he said that.

Havock hesitated, "ummm, No." _Wait, why did I just hesitate. What the hell was that? _

Havock had to take a deep breath to clear her head. "Bishop. You're my friend and I feel for you like a friend. Maybe even like a brother. But you know I really am not sure about family stuff. Anyways…sorry…anyways….I don't know…crap there's the security guard."

Hav was almost thankful, but she knew they would have to finish this conversation later.

Havock flashed the fake credentials as the vehicle pulled to a stop next to the guard shack. Trying to keep eye contact with the guard she noticed the holoshow going on in the guards small shack.

"New episode?" She had no clue what the show was and had never seen it, but she needed some distraction so he didn't look to closely at the credentials.

"Huh?" He looked up from the paperwork, then glanced behind to look at the screen. "Oh yeah."

Havock pretended to think really hard. "I loved that one what was it?"

"When Jonas got the new ship?"

"Yeah! That's the one. That was great!" Milking it for all it was worth.

"One of my favorites. Here you go, have a nice night." He handed the credentials back to Havock and waved at the man. He smiled and they drove through the gate.

Darkened containers filled the viewport in front of Havock and Bishop.

* * *

Havock guided the transport around until she found the row of shipping containers that should contain the one with the briefcase. Pulling the vehicle to a good position she powered the engines down and started to take off the coveralls to reveal the black suit underneath. Havock double checked her blaster then glanced over at Bishop.

She had to do a double-take to make sure he wasn't crying. He wasn't, but he looked like he could at any moment. Taking in and releasing a deep breath Havock leaned over in Bishop's direction. "Bishop...we need to do this, we can talk as soon as we get back to the house."

He looked at her, frowning, but his eyes softened a little and he nodded.

Havock jumped out of the drivers seat and walked around to the large rear door, opened it and went inside.

"Nice driving there Kid."

Jed looked at the man to silence him before turning to Havock. "What the hell happened back there."

Havock looked sheepishly at Jed. "Nothing, it was nothing. Everything's fine the guard doesn't suspect anything."

Bishop walked behind and around Havock, careful not to touch her, and started to look for his datapad. Jed noticed and narrowed his gaze at the boy then cocked his head and looked at Havock with raised eyebrows.

Havock just shook her head and pleaded with her eyes for Jed to leave Bishop alone for now.

"Got it." Bishop held up a datapad. "Now we can find the container, lets go." Without making eye contact he walked out and started scanning.

Havock rolled her eyes and followed him out leaving Jed and the other man to interface with the security system from the transport.

They walked in silence, Havock keeping watch and Bishop scanning each of the shipping containers. At least the intel they found had narrowed it down to only a section of the yard. They would never have found anything if they had to check every single one.

The had walked a few hundred meters when Havock heard the datapad 'beep'. She stepped up next to Bishop and looked at the screen over his shoulder. He walked over the the containers door, it was number 1060. Havock stood with her back to the large metal door of the container, keeping watch. Her eyes darted over to check Bishop's progress on getting the lock open.

"Impatient?" He asked, his eyes hadn't left the datapad but his eyebrows were raised.

Havock turned her head completely to look at him. "Who me?" She looked back over the yard. "Never." She smirked.

Bishop just shook his head. Then they both jumped a bit when the door opened with a loud 'click'. There eyes met before Havock walked past him into the dark container.

She clicked a flashlight attached to her wrist and shined it on the contents.

The container was surprisingly clean, in fact it looked cleaner than her room back home. There was little in the room to speak of. What looked like a small desk, maybe a chair behind it. There were a few boxes neatly stacked against two of the three available walls.

Havock walked around taking a survey of all the items. No briefcase was in sight. She glanced back at Bishop, who was now taking his turn standing guard. i Its going to be an interesting conversation when they get back to the house. /i Havock hadn't a clue what she was going to say. She closed her eyes for a second, Hav needed to focus. She could start going through boxes, but something told her to check the desk.

She examined the chair and the desk, making sure there were no visible triggers. When nothing could be found she sat in the chair and started pulling on the drawer handles. None would budge.

Havock pulled out some tools from a pouch in her belt, and used them to pick the lock under the desk. With a quiet 'snap' the desk and all the drawers unlocked. Hav opened all in turn and found them surprisingly empty. Pulling out the largest drawer again she felt around the bottom and found the latch. i Heh, got cha' /i

Shining her flashlight on the contents, she saw the gray outline of a briefcase in the drawer's hidden compartment. She pulled the briefcase out and headed towards the exit as she went past Bishop he immediately shut the door. Then they both heard a 'beep'.

"Was that your comlink?" Havock frowned at Bishop. His hands were still on the door handle.

"No my comlink is off, so is the datapad." Hand still not moving he turned to look at Havock. "What the hell was that, Hav?"

Havock started to answer when it 'beeped' again, and again. The interval got shorter.

"Umm Havock."

"Move Bishop!" Havock grabbed his arm with the hand not clenching the briefcase. They ran, the 'beep' growing more distance in the background. Havock threw the briefcase at Jed through the open back door.

"Gotta run, talk later." Bishop had already started closing the door. Havock jumped into the drivers seat and got the engine running.

Havock pulled the transport out with Bishop still half-way out the door. He glared at her as the door slammed shut. "Could you give a guy a chance to actually get in the vehicle?"

Havock would have answered but she was cut off as the container blew. She could see the red flames growing just before the aftershock hit the transport. She drove past the now vacant guard house, the guard must have gone to investigate. Regardless it didn't matter, they had what they wanted and no one looking as they left. Havock drove inconspicuously back to the house.

* * *

Havock had been running on the treadmill for a while by the time Lucy walked into the fitness center. Today they were going to get the debriefing on their mission, but for now everyone was on their own. Havock frowned as she watch Lucy twitch every time she came within a certain unspoken proximity to the gym equipment. It was clear the girl never set foot in this or any room where people perspire.

"Hiya Hav." She stood a few feet away from the treadmill, just to make sure she didn't get any of the Havock's sweat on her. The whole situation just made Hav smile.

"Lucy. You lost?" Hav answered, continuing her pace on the treadmill.

Lucy's eyes darted, looking at all the machines. Hav was really started to believe that the girl thought they would come to life at any moment and attack her. "Ha ha, Hav. No I came to see you. And since you seem to never leave this...place, I decided to stop waiting and just come on down here."

Hav frowned. "What do you need me for?"

"Heh." Lucy started to play with the hem of her shirt. "It's about Bishop."

Hav snapped her head to look directly at Lucy, but did it a bit too fast. "Huh?" She lost her balance for a second and barely managed to catch herself on the control panel of the treadmill. "Frak." Pushing some buttons she slowed the machine down until it stopped. Holding on still to the handles on either side, Hav slowly raised her head to look at Lucy. "What was that again?"

Lucy had her arms crossed and a sour expression. "You know I just don't get it. I mean Look at you." Lucy shook her head disapprovingly, and stuttered over a few incomprehensible words before rubbing her temple.

Hav raised her eyebrow, slowly walking off the treadmill to stand in front of it. She crossed her arms and waited for Lucy to continue.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to sound...like that. Its just why...why does he want you when he could have me?"

Havock blinked a few times, before looking away from Lucy's piercing stare. She wasn't sure if she should laugh or deck the girl. i Now I really miss Jae, at least she makes since when she speaks. /i "Okay I give up, what in the hell are you talking about?"

Now it was Lucy's turn to look confused. "Bishop. You know Bishop and I." She made some hand gestures that made what she was talking about abundantly clear.

Hav waved her hands to get Lucy to stop. "Bishop?" Havock burst out laughing. "Bishop and I are just friends, really, just friends. You 'want' him you can have him."

"But he said..."

"He said...he said what?" Havock's eyebrows were raised. "You know what never mind. Heh." Havock ran a hand through her hair, taking a few strands that had come loose from her ponytail and hooking them behind her ear. "This is going to stop, I'll talk to him." Hav started to walk out then stopped. "In about thirty more minutes."

Yanking her bag open she started taping up her hands to punch the bag for a while. She needed to work off some anger, she really didn't want to punch Bishop when she saw him or Lucy right now.

Lucy just stood there for a minute, silently watching. "So you would be okay if I..."

Lucy's voice trailed off as Havock slowly raised her eyes to look at her with an icy stare.

"Right, heh. I'll just talk to you later, okay...Hav." She muttered as she slowly backed out of the gym.

Havock just shook her head and stepped behind the punching bag, looking down at her hands finishing the wrapping. Taking a deep breath she punched the bag, hard, sending it swinging.

Almost out the door, Lucy muttered, just loud enough for Hav to hear. "Geez, whoever your dating in the army must be amazing."

Havock dropped her arms and yelled, "What?" About two seconds before the bag swung back and slammed into Hav sending her flying to the gym floor.

She quickly lifted her head in time to see Lucy laughing so hard she fell into the corridor. As the door shut, Havock let her head fall back to the floor. "What the frak is wrong with these people?"

Climbing to her feet she rubbed her head. "Oww, ugh."

The group had started to assemble in the briefing room around the giant conference table. Havock took her seat and started to rub the lump on the back of her head from her earlier fight with the punching bag. Bishop walked past her and sat in the seat next to her. He looked at her and frowned. "What's wrong with your head?"

Havock looked at him, still trying to make the headache go away. "Nothing." Immediately she regretted how harsh the word had come out. Hav dropped her hand to the table and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding since Bishop sat down. As she looked at him all she kept thinking was i I'm sorry, I'm really sorry . /i But instead she said. "Bishop, I didn't mean...what I meant was..." she let out an exasperated sound then continued. "I fell, in the gym."

Bishop laughed out loud, Havock frowned i and why did I not want to hit this man again? /i "Loose a fight with the treadmill again?"

Havock's eyes went wide and she whacked him hard in the shoulder. "You did not bring that up, I warned you if you ever brought that up again I would kill you." She shrugged. "So come on lets go, I'll get my blaster pistol."

A few years before joining the Vast Empire, Havock had been running on the treadmill for over an hour. When Bishop came in and told her that Jed needed to talk to her, she just stopped the machine cold and tried to walk off. Tried being the operative word, since the first step she took was a stumble backwards sending her flying into a weight bench. Bishop almost hyperventilated he was laughing so hard. Took her forever to live that one down.

"Whoa, whoa." Bishop was smiling and holding both hands up in the air. "May I petition the court for mercy?"

Havock smirked at Bishop and put a finger to her chin as if to think about that. Just as she was about to answer him Lucy came up with a sly smile and put one arm around both Hav and Bishop. "So nice to see you too getting along again."

Havock closed her eyes and started to rub her temple. Bishop just shook his head at Lucy. "Lucy, I swear sometimes..."

Before any of them could continue Jed stepped up to the front of the table and started the briefing.

"First of all good job all of you. With the exception of some massive destruction, nice to have you back Havock, we achieved our objective and were able to deliver the briefcase to the bosses and we have received our payment. You will all receive your cut within the next hour or so." With that a few people started to get up and leave.

Havock looked around very confused. "Hold on, what was in the briefcase?"

Everyone froze where they were and looked either at Havock or Jed. Bishop and Lucy looked at Havock with a surprisingly similar confused expression on their face.

Jed frowned and shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? We get the stuff, thats all. None of my business what's in it, or what they need it for. As long as the credits arrive on time. You know that Havock."

Havock looked up at Jed, her arms crossed in the chair. Now all eyes were on her, she started to swivel the chair with her foot as her blue eyes drew daggers at Jed. "I don't understand how you can do that, what if it was a weapon, and you don't know..."

Everyone jumped except Havock when Jed slammed his fist on the table. "Everyone out, Havock and I need to have a talk."

The room cleared out in record time. Nobody spoke as they walked briskly towards the exit. When the door slid shut, Hav was still in her chair with her arms crossed. She was chewing on her cheek looking at the paint on the wall.

Jed walked over and sat in the chair next to Havock. He put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together, then stared at Havock waiting for her to look at him. "Ayme."

Havock slowly turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. He had a smirk on his face. "Made ya' look."

She avoided looking him in the eye. "Thats not funny." She bit her lip as she continued to fidget in the chair. "You're not going to make me call you Dad now, are you?"

He genuinely laughed at that. "God no, That just doesn't sound right at all."

Hav smirked and looked down a her hands. "Heh, you started it."

"Seriously, tell me what's wrong." His eyes were soft as he looked at her. "You've been acting weird lately."

"Our last mission, I'm talking about the Army, well the last mission still bothers me. I wake up with nightmares, I just wish it was over in my mind. And, I don't know, this Bishop thing..."

"Bishop." He sat up a little. "What did Bishop do?" His hand instinctively went for his holster.

Hav smiled a little. "Umm relax, nothing. He just still...likes me...I guess. And thats bothering me too, Bishop's just a friend and I don't want to loose him as a friend."

"I would be happy to explain that to him for you."

Havock reached out and grabbed Jed's arms. "Please no, he looks better in one piece."

Taking a deep breath Havock looked at Jed. "I have to go back tomorrow, you know that. And yes, I want to. In fact I miss the Army. I just have a lot on my mind. I guess. And I don't understand this anymore. I don't know how you can know so little. I mean we follow orders in the Army but we know what were doing. I guess I just don't understand anymore. Or I'm just in a mood. Who knows."

He though about that for a few minutes. "Hmm, well tell you what. If its me and you talking, you can question all you want. But in the briefing room with everyone here. Do your old man a favor and not question him in front of his entire crew again, okay?"

Havock looked sheepishly at Jed. "Yeah, sorry about that."

He put his hands on her shoulders and patted her a few times, then he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Go on, get out of here. I'm sure there's a few things you need to do before you leave."

Havock was walking through what was her immaculate room, picking up random articles of clothing as she walked through the room. She had a fairly large handful, she walked over to her travel bag and without skipping a beat, shoved the lot of them into the bag.

Bishop, who had been watching her from the doorway just shook his head. "You would think the army would teach you how to be neater."

Havock just nodded without turning around. "Yeah, you would think." She smiled and turned to look at Bishop. "Alright, you, lets get this over with. I have a transport to catch at the spaceport in an hour."

"An hour." Bishop practically whined, as he pushed himself upright from his leaning position on the doorframe.

Havock just shook her head at the man. Bishop was short but good looking, and he and Hav had been good friends for as long as she could remember. He was Havock's first boyfriend for goodness sakes, they may have stayed together if Jed hadn't overreacted and she hadn't left for the army.

"Come here, lets talk." She motioned for Bishop to come and sit next to her on the bed, which was no easy task given the beds current state of disarray. Once they both found a space, but he just couldn't help but take one more jab at Havock. "You know its going to take the cleaning droids days to repair the damage you have done in here."

Havock swatted at him, "oh shoosh." They both chuckled a bit, then Havock took a deep breath. "Bishop, you know your always going to be one of my best friends..."

"Let me stop you there. It's okay Hav, I get it. I understand and its okay. You'll always be one of my best friends too, okay." He ended with a smile, which Havock didn't entirely believe but she could tell that she was going to have to take it. So rather than speak any further on the matter she smiled back and they both stood and embraced. "So can I help you get ready?"

Havock let go of him and shook her head. "No, not really. I'm packed, maybe I should clean up a bit." She started to look around the room.

"Nah, its fine. I was teasing." Havock didn't buy that line either.

Toby, the poor new guy Havock had slightly terrorized earlier in her visit came up to her door. "Hey Havock." He waved briefly before returning his hands to his pockets. "Jed says you need to get a move on if you want to make that transport."

"Okay, Thank you Toby." She watched as the young man nodded and walked back down the hall.

Havock looked back to Bishop. "Guess its time to go." Havock stood and grabbed her bags, then looked back up at Bishop. "I'll comm when I get there, if I don't Jed will kill me for sure."

"Yeah he will."

They hugged one more time and Havock headed out the door, back to her third home and family in the army.


End file.
